Behind the image: The Virgin of the Sea

It is not very common for leading photographers to visit Galicia in search of unique locations. I could not miss the opportunity to meet Jabi Sanz, Daniel Viñé and Elena Pueyo, so we gathered to photograph the beautiful Virxe do Porto chapel in Valdoviño, near Ferrol in the province of A Coruña.

The chapel has an unusual story. Legend says sailors found an image of the Virgin at sea and brought it ashore. The next day, they found it again in the same place, so they decided to build a chapel nearby.

The chapel stands on a small island that is easily accessible at low tide. At high tide, especially spring tides, it is completely surrounded by the sea, giving it a distinctive appearance.

Nearby, the Punta Frouxeira lighthouse can be seen in the distance. Dating from 1992, it is one of Galicia’s most modern, alongside Punta Nariga (1998).

That afternoon looked promising: a few clouds on the horizon would add interest to the sky. I also decided to capture a sunstar as the sun disappeared by stopping the lens down to f/22.

The tide was fairly low, so I avoided the usual view showing the entire island. Instead, I lowered my viewpoint to use the undulating line of grass as a natural foreground frame, enhanced by the small flowers growing among it.

To capture the whole scene and its wide dynamic range, I shot a panorama of seven frames, each bracketed across three exposures. 

With the foreground so close, I used hyperfocal focusing to avoid focus stacking and the extra work that would involve later.

A nodal rail also played an important role. It lets the camera slide backwards so it rotates around the correct point on the head, reducing stitching distortions, particularly with very close foregrounds such as this.

Nodal rail

POST-PROCESSING

I stitched the panorama in Photoshop’s Camera Raw. Recent versions include an HDR Panorama option that automatically combines panoramas with multiple exposures, considerably shortening the stitching process.

I then applied a fairly light edit, enhancing highlights and shadows and improving colour and detail to keep the image well balanced.

Here is the result. I hope you like it.